Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a concerted effort to stop the spread of smoking among kids. That included an ad campaign that featured the perfect role model that kids could relate to: R2-D2. Yes, we’re serious.
In the 70s and 80s, smoking was an even bigger problem among teenagers than it is today, even among young kids. Part of that was due to the easy accessibility to cigarettes – not only were more parents smoking (making it easy for a kid to swipe them), but you could even buy them from vending machines.
Today, TV and film will rarely depict kids smoking, even in a negative situation. There are even warnings slapped on movies if smoking is featured in it.
Back in the day, however, all the cool kids smoked, and movies reinforced the idea. Case in point: 1976’s The Bad News Bears featured Kelly Leak, the best player on the Bears’ baseball team who also rode a motorcycle and smoked while in junior high.
So, in 1983, at the height of Return of the Jedi mania, the United States Department of Health and Human Services used R2-D2 and C-3PO in an anti-smoking PSA to discourage smoking. The commercial featured Threepio (voiced by Anthony Daniels) finding Artoo sneaking a smoke, and telling him about the dangers of smoking to humans. C-3PO insists R2 should set a good example for humans, and he complies by dropping the cigarette.
It’s unclear how effective the anti-smoking PSA actually was (as a kid, I just found it cool to see the droids in a commercial), and it helped pave the way for the “Just Say No to Drugs” anti-drug campaign that would follow soon after.
For Star Wars fans, the PSA is now a quirky throwback to a time where cigarettes were the biggest threat to kids.
Check out the PSA here.
Post our thoughts in the comments section below on the R2-D2 Smoking PSA. In addition, share this on social media.